Chitosan

Chitosan

Chitosan is a dietary supplement made from the shells of crustaceans such as crabs, shrimp and lobsters. Often marketed as a natural weight loss aid, supplement manufacturers claim that chitosan can fight fat absorption.

Health benefits from chitosan

The most widely promoted health benefit of chitosan is that it increases fat loss. Supplement manufacturers often claim that chitosan binds to fat in the body and allows you to excrete more of it, thereby reducing the amount of fat your body stores.

For a report published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews in 2008, researchers looked at 15 clinical trials (with a total of 1,219 participants) that tested the effects of chitosan on overweight or obese adults. Compared to participants given a placebo, study members treated with chitosan appeared to lose significantly more weight and experience beneficial changes in cholesterol levels and blood pressure.